–50 houses currently under construction

MINISTER of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali said on Monday that the ‘Turnkey 1000 Homes’ project at the new Perseverance Housing Scheme, located directly behind the Guyana National Stadium, is moving apace.

Giving the press an update onsite at Perseverance, East Bank Demerara, the Housing Minister said that he is delighted with the progress of the turnkey homes project, which is part of the development along the East Bank

corridor.

“This project started construction in May of this year and is moving at a rapid pace. Even though it rained, because of good drainage construction we can still carry on.” He added that the project is not without any hindrances but these are minimal.
He noted that the 2014 Budget caters for more turnkey homes and the Ministry has seen an increasing interest from applicants for the move-in- ready homes, and so provision has been made to meet the demand.

ACCESSIBILITY

Meanwhile, in addressing the view that the project is being constructed ‘way at the back’, Ali cleared the air by observing that “all of us just came down the road, and it only took us about five minutes to reach this location. It’s a new highway connecting the existing East Bank Public Road to what we call a ‘collector’s lane’ right here in Perseverance.”
He also indicated that there will be five entrances coming into Perseverance as well as the highway from Diamond to Ogle on the East Coast.
The Housing Minister said, however, that there will be no more land development beyond this section. “This is the last phase of land in terms of depth, after this the land is not earmarked for housing because it is moving closer to the conservancy.”

400 JOBS

This project, Ali informed, created 400 direct jobs for Guyanese. “This one project since the starting of this year would have contributed directly to employing 400 persons.”
Minister Ali indicated that there are currently 50 houses under construction, and these houses have already been allocated to the applicants. “With the allocation, these new owners can monitor the works being done,” he explained. This is the first phase being constructed in the 4th segment of this project. “The demand for the turnkey homes is tremendous and more persons now prefer this type of home ownership,” Ali stated.
The Housing Ministry launched the ‘Turnkey 1000 Home’ project in June 2013 with the promise that it would work aggressively to push construction. The 1000-homes initiative is the latest in the successful turnkey concept started by the Housing & Water Ministry in 2011 in a strategy to assist low-income earners to become home owners.
The initiative will see the ministry constructing two-bedroom homes for $4.9M and three-bedroom homes for $9M, and these homes will be sold to qualifying beneficiaries.

(By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally)